Melissa Etheridge January 1993: No Orchestrated Coming-Out for This Rocker. She Just Says, "Yes I Am". (Rebels & Pioneers)

Article excerpt

Gays and lesbians everywhere know that Melissa Etheridge came out at the Triangle Ball, the historic gay and lesbian gala in honor of Bill Clinton's inauguration sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. What they may not know is that Etheridge herself had not planned on coming out that night. She had attended simply as the guest of a friend.

"I remember someone saying, `Here, come up in this balcony where the celebrities are,' and k.d. lang is talking to the audience down below," Etheridge recalls. When she was asked to address the crowd, "I didn't even think, Oh, I'm going to come out here," Etheridge says. "It was, `Gee, I'm really excited to be here, and I'm really proud to have been a lesbian all my life.' And a big cheer went up through the whole hall, and k.d. came out and hugged me. I remember walking back, and my friend said, `I think you came out!'

"The urban legend now is that I came out at Bill Clinton's inauguration, [as if] he's got his hand on the Bible, and I'm like, `Wait, wait, stop, stop? …